Recommended: Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum. Ecco, 2012 In 2006 Alaskan senator Ted Stevens described the Internet as a “series of tubes,” a quip that earned the octogenarian widespread mockery. Darwin’s Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution by Rebecca Stott. Stott grew up in a household in Brighton, England, that was so strictly creationist that her grandfather cut Charles Darwin’s entry out of the family’s Encyclopedia Britannica. Prize Fight: The Race and the Rivalry to Be the First in Science by Morton Meyers. In a series of case studies, Meyers analyzes how credit has been doled out in major scientific discoveries, including the creation of MRI and the development of streptomycin, the first antibiotic against tuberculosis. Wild Hope: On the Front Lines of Conservation Success by Andrew Balmford. BooksRainy Brain, Sunny Brain: How to Retrain Your Brain to Overcome Pessimism and Achieve a More Positive Outlook, by Elaine Fox. Both are part of a new Earth series.
The Essence Of Science Explained In 63 Seconds : Krulwich Wonders... Here it is, in a nutshell: The logic of science boiled down to one, essential idea. It comes from Richard Feynman, one of the great scientists of the 20th century, who wrote it on the blackboard during a class at Cornell in 1964. Think about what he's saying. The world knows. This view is based on an almost sacred belief that the ways of the world are unshakeable, ordered by laws that have no moods, no variance, that what's "Out There" has no mind. Thanks to Maria Popova and her blog "Brainpickings" for noticing the Feynman moment. "View with a Grain of Sand" from View with a Grain of Sand, by Wisława Szymborska.
Study finds that analytical thinking reduces religious belief By Muriel KaneFriday, April 27, 2012 21:48 EDT A study carried out by psychologists at the University of British Columbia has concluded that tests which promote analytical thinking simultaneously reduce the level of religious belief in skeptics and devout believers alike. The subjects of the study were given problem-solving tasks, shown a picture of Rodin’s sculpture “The Thinker,” and presented with a final questionnaires printed in a hard-to-read font. The questionnaire, which asked them to what extent they agreed with statements such as “I believe in God” or “I don’t really spend much time thinking about my religious beliefs,” revealed a diminished level of belief compared to control subjects who had been given non-analytical tasks to complete. Psychologists have long believed that humans rely on two different cognitive systems, one “intuitive” and the other “analytical,” and previous research has pointed to a link between intuitive thinking and religious belief. Muriel Kane
Neurological support for Adam Smith's 'theories of morality' The part of the brain we use when engaging in egalitarian behavior may also be linked to a larger sense of morality, researchers have found. Their conclusions, which offer scientific support for Adam Smith's theories of morality, are based on experimental research published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, coming seven months after the start of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, which has been aimed at addressing income inequality, was conducted by researchers from: New York University's Wilf Family Department of Politics; the University of Toronto; the University of California, San Diego; the University of California, Davis; and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. To explore this possibility, the researchers conducted an experiment in which individuals played a game to gauge brain activity in decision-making. Adam Smith, in "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", expressed this perspective in his 18th-century essay.
Particle accelerators' search for nature's hidden dimensions comes up empty It sounds like something that should be reported at the Onion, but here I am to tell you that the people who run the CMS detector at the LHC have just released their most recent results. Apparently, if there are extra dimensions, they haven't been hiding anywhere the LHC can find them. To add to the misery of extra dimension hunters, the data from Fermilab's D0 collaboration has also been used to not find extra dimensions. No, seriously—with the LHC performing so well, the folks at CMS have a huge amount of data. And although the Tevatron is no more, the data remains, and the D0 folk have not been afraid to use it. The two detector teams looked for the same signature of extra dimensions using the wave-like nature of particles. When a particle is confined in a box that has dimensions about the same size as its wavepacket, the reflections of the waves from the edges of the box will interfere.
Waterlogged meteorite may answer 3 questions about life on Mars It’s likely one of the most important discoveries in recent years and astronomers are just beginning to understand the potential findings from a rare Martian meteorite recovered in Western Morocco. Astronomers say the Mars meteorite — dubbed “Black Beauty” — is unlike any of the Martian meteorites yet discovered on Earth, according to a report published online Thursday by the journal Science. The meteorite contains the highest concentration of water ever recorded and it is generating a large amount of excitement within the astronomy community. The stunning discovery has raised more questions than it has answered, including questions about whether the presence of water in a 2.5-billion-year meteorite raises the prospect of discovering past life on the Red Planet. Did Mars once have flowing water? It is pretty evident that Mars once had water flowing across its surface. How did Mars come to be, geologically speaking? Could life travel from Mars to Earth and survive? Have something to say?
Nanotechnology Basics Home > Introduction > Nanotechnology Basics Nanotechnology Basics Last Updated: Friday, 14-Jun-2013 09:28:04 PDT What is Nanotechnology? Answers differ depending on who you ask, and their background. Broadly speaking however, nanotechnology is the act of purposefully manipulating matter at the atomic scale, otherwise known as the "nanoscale." Coined as "nano-technology" in a 1974 paper by Norio Taniguchi at the University of Tokyo, and encompassing a multitude of rapidly emerging technologies, based upon the scaling down of existing technologies to the next level of precision and miniaturization. Foresight Nanotech Institute Founder K. In the future, "nanotechnology" will likely include building machines and mechanisms with nanoscale dimensions, referred to these days as Molecular Nanotechnology (MNT). Click image for larger version. This image was written using Dip-Pen Nanolithography, and imaged using lateral force microscopy mode of an atomic force microscope. "We know it's possible.
Astronomy Magazine - Interactive Star Charts, Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes Bad Astronomy Well now, this is an interesting discovery: astronomers have found what looks like a "super-Earth" – a planet more massive than Earth but still smaller than a gas giant – orbiting a nearby star at the right distance to have liquid water on it! Given that, it might – might – be Earthlike. This is pretty cool news. We’ve found planets like this before, but not very many! And it gets niftier: the planet has at least five siblings, all of which orbit its star closer than it does. Now let me be clear: this is a planet candidate; it has not yet been confirmed. The star is called HD 40307, and it’s a bit over 40 light years away (pretty close in galactic standards, but I wouldn’t want to walk there). Massive planets tug on their star harder, so they’re easier to find this way. In this case, HD 40307 was originally observed a little while back by HARPS, and three planets were found. We don’t know how big the planet is, unfortunately. That’s exciting because of the prospect for life.
ScienceSeeker Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology How Skeptics Can Break the Cycle of False Beliefs In Tyler Hamilton's 2012 book The Secret Race (written with Daniel Coyle), the cyclist exposes the most sophisticated doping program in the history of sports, orchestrated by Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner now stripped of his titles after a thorough investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Hamilton shows how such an elaborate system was maintained through the “omertà rule”—the code of silence that leads one to believe everyone else believes doping is the norm—and reinforced by the threat of punishment for speaking out or not complying. The broader psychological principle at work here is “pluralistic ignorance,” in which individual members of a group do not believe something but mistakenly believe everyone else in the group believes it. When you add an element of punishment for those who challenge the norm, pluralistic ignorance can transmogrify into purges, pogroms and repressive political regimes.